Title

By: Justice Ohanasian

Seventh Grade Memories

Problem Scenario

Either seventh grade boys or girls will have better short term memory. Because male and female seventh graders are taught in the same classroom, the results of this project may effect how teachers instruct their students, since one gender will have an easier time comprehending information than the other. I find the topic of human psychology very interesting. Someones project in last year's science fair inspired me to conduct this experiment.

Broad Question

Do boys or girls have better memory?

Specific Question

Do seventh grade boys or seventh grade girls have better short term memory?

Hypothesis

Overall, for days one and two, seventh grade boys have better short term memory than seventh grade girls.

Variables

Independent Variable:

Gender

Dependent Variable

Number of cards remembered

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Grade of students
Number of cards
Content of cards
Day/time of testing
Recall delay time

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Recall Delay Time- The amount of time between memorizing the numbers and writing them down in the order in which displayed.
Alzheimer's Disease- A form of dementia, usually found in the middle aged.
Dementia- Severe impairment of personality integration, due to damage or loss of brain neurons.
Neurons- A cell that is the functional unit of the nervous system, consisting of the cell bodies.
Synapses- The region where nerve impulses are received.
Synaptic Plasticity-The ability of two neurons to connect, and to strengthen or weaken.
Neuroscience- The study of the nervous system.

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General Plan

Potential Problems And Solutions

Problem- When could I test the students?
Solution- Test the students during science class at an appropriate time, when many students are available

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

None

Experimental Design

Number Of Trials:

approximately 40

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

One

When data will be collected

Early in the month of March

Number of Observations:

Boys seem to be trying to memorize the numbers more closely than the girls.

Where will data be collected?:

Mr. Biche's classroom, team one, room B19.

Resources and Budget Table

Item Needed	Approximate Cost	Where I Can Get It
Index Cards	None	Home
Poster Board	5.00	Staples
Markers	None	Home

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Background Research

I researched many topics for the 'Background Research' section on my Wikipage. These topics consist of the process of storing memories, where memories are stored, and diseases that could impact memory. Below you will read, in detail, what memory is all about, how it works, and why human memory is so complex and interesting.

The process of storing of memories in the human brain is very complex. This could involve as many as 10 14 (100 trillion) synapses in the human brain. The memory and storage of data is conducted when there are chemical changes between two or more neurons. When those neurons connect, they either strengthen or weaken. The strengthening or weakening of the neurons is called synaptic plasticity.

Doctors and scientists have concluded that memories have no specific region in which memories- old and new- are stored. This has been said due to the results of numerous medical procedures. For example, a 44 year old French patient had large sections of his brain removed in surgeries, leaving his skull nearly empty, and claimed that he had little to no memory loss. He told reporters that his memory after the surgery was no different than prior to his brain tissue removal.

There are some diseases people can have that affect their memory. A common one is Alzheimer's Disease. People diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease are typically 65 or older. This disease is found more often in women than in men, and is also the most common form of dementia. The most common symptom of Alzheimer's is having difficulty remembering information that was newly learned. Some other signs of Alzheimer's Disease is difficulty walking and speaking. The symptoms worsen over time.

So there you have it- memory is more complicated than you may have anticipated. Chemical change in the brain is what causes memories to be stored. In no one place are memory stored, but they are distributed into different parts of the mind. Some diseases can not only impact body function, but can also disturb the ability to recall memories.

References

www.scienceforums.net
www.Quora.com
www.ALZ.com
www.viewzone.com

Detailed Procedure

Step One: Buy needed supplies at Staples
Step Two: Set up time to test students
Step Three: Test students
Step Four: Collect data
Step Five: Test students again on following day
Step Six: Collect data
Step Seven: Graph and compare all data from days one and two

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Results

When the students were asked to recall the ten numbers shown immediately after seeing them, girls recalled more of them in the correct order. They also had a higher number of total numbers they remembered, in order or not. However, when the students had to recall the numbers the next day, without seeing them in twenty four hours, males and females scored approximately the same. On the second day, the students had no prior knowledge that they would be tested.

Graphs

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Data Analysis

For girls total cards remembered in order, on day one, the average number of cards remembered was six, while the boys average for that day and in that category was only two. These averages proved my hypothesis to be wrong. On day two, however, the averages were the same, (after being rounded to the nearest whole number,) in both categories; number of cards remembered in order, and total cards remembered.

Conclusion

As shown clearly in the graphs, girls had an easier time remembering the numbers that were on the cards on day one. On day two, however, for both the total number of cards remembered and the number of cards in order, boys and girls had the same averages. I hypothesized that overall, boys would have better results than girls. Not only was my hypothesis proven wrong in the day one data, but was also incorrect for the data from day two.

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Discussion

Overall I've concluded that my hypothesis was wrong, seventh grade boys do not have better short term memory than girls of their same age. When asked to remember a series of numbers immediately after memorizing them for a period of two minutes, seventh grade girls will be able to remember more numbers, in order and just overall, than boys. If they could memorize the numbers for two minutes one day, and then have to remember them the next day, a time of almost exactly twenty four hours, both boys and girls would score about the same. To have less variables, and potentially have a more accurate conclusion, I would have kept the series of numbers either all one digit or two digit numbers, while I really used a mix of both. I didn't have many observations for my project.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

My project could benefit strongly to school teachers. Since either boys or girls will have better short term memory, one of them will have an easier time remembering information. This could make it easier for, at least seventh grade, teachers to understand why, if ever, one gender seems to be remembering things better than the other. My project has only proven that one gender will remember a series of numbers better than the other. Results could easily be different if the series of numbers had been a series of letters, or just random information.

Abstract

My science teacher helped me conduct my experiment. I wrote a series of ten numbers on ten index cards, and he wrote them on the white board, leaving them there for two minutes while the students memorized them. This happened at the beginning of every class. The students wrote out the numbers as best as they could remember them on a sheet of paper, in the order they were written. The next day, the students were asked to do the same thing, except the numbers were not written on the board, so they had to recall them. The papers were then handed in to either Mr. Biche or myself, and I took pictures of some of the students who were in my science class. I hypothesized that overall boys would have better memory than girls. Shown in the data on my poster, I was wrong. I personally have an unusually strong memory of numbers, but I thought that most girls did not. I now see it is possible that they do, but maybe boys have an unusually weak memory of numbers. Only further experimentation could prove anything.